42 U.S.C. § 7586 — Centrally fueled fleets

(a) Fleet program required for certain nonattainment areas. (1) Each state with all or part of a "covered area" (defined in paragraph (2)) had to submit, within 42 months of November 15, 1990, a state implementation plan revision under section 7410 and part D of subchapter I, setting up a clean-fuel vehicle fleet program. (2) A "covered area" is: (A) any ozone nonattainment area with a 1980 population of 250,000 or more, classified as Serious, Severe, or Extreme based on 1987–1989 data (using the Administrator's most recent pre-November 1990 interpretation method); or (B) any carbon monoxide nonattainment area with a 1980 population of 250,000 or more and a carbon monoxide design value of 16.0 parts per million or higher, based on 1988–1989 data — excluding areas where mobile sources don't significantly contribute to carbon monoxide problems. (3) If an ozone area with a 1980 population of 250,000 or more is later reclassified as Serious, Severe, or Extreme, its state must submit a plan revision within 1 year of reclassification, applying the requirements as of the reclassification date going forward — though the Administrator may temporarily adjust deadlines that would otherwise be infeasible. (4) States writing these plan revisions must consult fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, fuel producers and distributors, and other interested parties, considering factors like operational range, specialty uses, vehicle and fuel availability, cost, safety, and resale value. (b) Phase-in of requirements. The plan revision must require that, starting in model year 1998, a set percentage of new covered fleet vehicles each covered fleet operator buys in a covered area must be clean-fuel vehicles running on clean alternative fuel there. For light-duty trucks up to 6,000 lbs. GVWR and light-duty vehicles, the required share is 30% in model year 1998, 50% in 1999, and 70% in 2000 (and continuing at that level after). For heavy-duty trucks over 8,500 lbs. GVWR, the required share is 50% in each of those years. (c) Accelerated standard for light-duty trucks up to 6,000 lbs. GVWR and light-duty vehicles. For this section only, these vehicles made in model years 1998 through 2000 count as "clean-fuel vehicles" only if they meet the stricter section 7583 standards that otherwise apply starting model year 2001. Subsection (b)'s requirements take effect on whichever comes first: (1) the first model year after 1997 in which vehicles meeting the 2001 standards go on sale in California, or (2) model year 2001. If subsection (b) is delayed under (1), its phase-in schedule shifts to start with that model year instead of 1998. (d) Choice of vehicles and fuel. Under the plan revision, the covered fleet operator — not the state — chooses which clean-fuel vehicles and clean alternative fuels to use, subject to this section's requirements. (e) Availability of clean alternative fuel. The plan revision must require fuel providers to make clean alternative fuel available where covered fleet vehicles get centrally fueled. (f) Credits. (1) The state plan must let the state issue credits to a fleet operator for: (A) buying more clean-fuel vehicles than required; (B) buying clean-fuel vehicles meeting stricter standards the Administrator sets under paragraph (4); or (C) buying vehicles in categories this section doesn't cover, but that meet standards set under paragraph (4). (2) (A) Credits can be used by their holder to show compliance, or traded or sold to someone else to show compliance with other requirements in the same nonattainment area. Banked credits keep their original value when used later. (B) Credits from vehicles up to 8,500 lbs. GVWR can't be used for compliance involving vehicles over 8,500 lbs. GVWR, and vice versa. (C) Credits get weighted based on how much emission reduction the vehicle actually achieves. (3) Within 12 months of November 15, 1990, the Administrator had to issue regulations for this credit program, which the state then administers. (4) Solely to issue credits under paragraph (1)(B), the Administrator must set standards for "Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles" (ULEVs) and "Zero Emissions Vehicles" (ZEVs), stricter than the normal clean-fuel vehicle standards. The Administrator certifies vehicles against these standards and enforces them the same way as regular clean-fuel vehicle standards. For vehicles under 8,500 lbs. GVWR, these standards must match California's ULEV and ZEV standards for the same class as closely as possible; for heavier vehicles, the Administrator sets comparable standards. (5) The state plan must give credits to fleet operators who buy vehicles certified as clean-fuel vehicles during the period after the plan revision is approved but before the fleet program actually takes effect. (g) Availability to public. At any federal facility that supplies clean alternative fuel to covered vehicles, that fuel must also be offered for sale to the public for use in other vehicles during normal business hours — subject to national security concerns — unless the fuel is already commercially available nearby for other vehicles. (h) Transportation control measures. Within 1 year of November 15, 1990, the Administrator had to make a rule ensuring that certain transportation control measures — like time-of-day or day-of-week driving restrictions — do not apply to any clean-fuel vehicle meeting this section's requirements. This applies despite anything in subchapter I.